Courtrooms across the country are sending an unmistakable message: Laws barring equal treatment of same sex couples are unconstitutional. The issue and the weight it carries for American society won't likely be resolved until the Supreme Court settles the matter.

The latest case was a second trial court ruling against the Defense of Marriage Act, which denied benefits for same-sex partners of federal workers. Washington politics is also involved since the Obama administration refused to defend the law, saying it was unfair, while House Republicans hired lawyers to back the measure passed in 1996.

In the latest case, federal trial court judge Jeffrey White, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said the law was irrational and discriminatory in denying health benefits for the spouse of a lesbian court employee. His ruling follows a similar one by a federal judge in Massachusetts two years ago.

Appeals of the two cases will kick the issue of same-sex benefits up the appeals ladder. At the same time, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco is considering a request to reconsider its decision knocking down a ban on same sex marriage embodied in Prop. 8.

These cases are milestones in a long journey. Public attitudes are more welcoming on equal rights to same sex couples, and court decisions are finding legal grounds for a shift in laws. Yet this history won't be complete until the issue is settled by the nation's high court, once and for all. That moment is still to come.